8 things to know before it hits the broth
From choosing your broth to the sesame-oil dip to the add-ins locals order every time — listed in the order you'll decide them.
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If it's your first time and the heat worries you, order a yuānyāng pot to start. It's a single pot divided into an S-shape: one side is full-strength red málà broth, the other is a mild clear broth (pick bone, mushroom, or a sweet-sour tomato broth that goes down easily). Cook your add-ins in the red side for the full hit, then switch to the clear side the moment your mouth tips over from buzzing to overwhelmed. "Yuānyāng" means a pair of mandarin ducks — a poetic nod to two different things that belong together.
The original málà broth is built on a base of beef tallow. Simmered with dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorn, it turns intensely fragrant, and its red oil clings to every piece you cook, so the flavour lands heavier and lingers longer than a vegetable-oil broth. When it cools, the tallow sets into a soft solid — a sign the broth is genuinely rich, not a fault. Most locals choose this. If you'd rather a lighter body and softer spice aroma, some modern restaurants offer a clear-oil broth (清油 qīngyóu, made from rapeseed oil) instead.
Honestly, this little bowl is the local's secret weapon. The sesame-oil dip (油碟) is sesame oil with chopped raw garlic, and most places have a condiment station where you add spring onion, coriander, chilli flakes or oyster sauce to taste. The oil does two jobs: it coats freshly cooked pieces so they don't scald your mouth, and it noticeably tones down both the heat and the peppercorn numbness. Pull a piece out of the red broth, swirl it through the bowl, then eat — every time. This bowl is how people manage hotpot several nights a week. Don't ask for the thick sesame paste (麻酱) of Beijing hotpot; in Chengdu, the oil bowl rules.
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If there's one add-in you have to order, locals will name beef tripe — thin sheets that turn springy and crisp in a way nothing else does. The crucial thing is that it cooks fast. There's a saying here: 七上八下 (qī shàng bā xià), "seven ups, eight downs" — grip the tripe with chopsticks, dunk it in the boiling broth, and lift it up and down for about 10–15 seconds. The instant the surface curls and stiffens, pull it out, swirl it through the sesame-oil dip, and eat. Leave it in too long and it goes rubbery — this is the first-timer's first little test.
Duck intestine is beef tripe's constant companion: long, thin ribbons that curl up when cooked and snap with a satisfying crunch. Plenty of people hesitate at the name, but cook it right and dip it in sesame oil and you'll come around fast. It cooks even quicker than tripe — about 8–10 seconds, just until it curls, then up it comes. Locals like to hold a single ribbon in the broth and lift it the moment it tightens; freshness and crunch are the whole point. Overcook it and it turns chewy and tough.
Fair warning: this is the adventurous end of the menu. Huánghóu (黄喉) is the large blood vessel of beef or pork — it sounds alarming but has no off taste, and cooks up crunchy like cartilage; give it around 20 seconds. Brain flower (脑花 nǎohuā) is usually pork brain, soft and custard-smooth, set in a little basket and simmered in the red broth until cooked through. Locals consider both delicacies, but honestly, they're not for everyone — if you're not up for it, skip them with no loss of face. There are a hundred other things to cook.
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Between rounds of the heavy stuff, don't forget the vegetables and starches. Thin-sliced potato (土豆) and lotus root (藕片) soak up the málà beautifully and fill you up; tofu skin (豆皮) drinks in the broth until it's lush. Enoki mushrooms and Chinese cabbage give your tongue a proper break from the heat. Finish the meal with sweet-potato noodles (红薯粉) or wheat noodles cooked in the broth at its most concentrated — plenty of people swear the noodles at the end are the real star of the meal.
Plain water doesn't do much against málà heat, so locals order drinks that actually help. Soy milk (豆奶) and drinking yoghurt (酸奶) are the favourites, because the fat in dairy binds the chilli far better than water does. Chrysanthemum tea (菊花茶) and chilled herbal drinks help cool the body's "heat", and if you want something fizzy there's iced cola or a local beer. Many hotpot places have a self-serve drinks fridge with a flat all-you-can-drink charge. Pack wet wipes, and bring an antacid if you know your stomach runs sensitive.